You often hear that the sound of a pickup is dominated by the choice of magnet used in its construction.
Ceramic vs alnico 2.
What s the difference between ceramic alnico magnet pickups.
It has the most balanced and even eq out of all of the alnico.
A lot of people automatically say that alnico is superior to ceramic in pickups.
Magnetically speaking ceramic magnets produce a stronger field than alnico.
To crown a winner in our alnico vs ceramic magnets shootout we would need a way to accurately compare the two which is not an easy task.
So we often hear.
The result is a slightly hotter sounding pickup with more treble response.
By some players the ceramic magnets are given a bad reputation when compared to alnico which is probably due to their association with cheaper instruments.
Curiously alnico 3 is weaker than alnico 2 in a bar magnet form but stronger than alnico 2 in a rod magnet form.
Donate to guitars for good causes.
Let s listen to how they sound.
Whereas ceramic is used in metal as it sounds tight loud and cool.
Alnico vs ceramic magnets.
Provides some bite and sparkle.
Alnico ii is a lower output magnet that is smooth and usually has just a bit of warmth.
Ceramic magnets are made of ceramic surprise.
You see ceramic is easier to come by than alnico making it a cheaper magnet to make.
We use alnico 3 magnets in our real 54 s to give them a bright glassy tone.
Alnico seems to be the popular favorite but on the other hand there is no shortage of popular recordings that feature ceramic pickups.
Alnico is nice and warm and great for blues.
Alnico viii is generally between ceramic and alnico v with quite a bit of magnetic pull punchy with upper mids but a little more warmth than ceramic.
Ceramic magnets are made from ferrites often iron oxides.
Alnico tends to produce a very musical pickup in most.